science & medicine

Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis finds meaning in the dark corners of DNA. Her study results keep surprising people—like how some “junk DNA” is actually able to birth brand new genes from scratch. And Carvunis is just getting started. * Pitt Med, Summer 2018

Someone once told Eve, a teen with severe intractable depression, “You just aren’t working hard enough in therapy.” And then her doctor, Lisa Pan, learned that she can’t seem to make critical neurotransmitters. * Pitt Med, Summer 2017

We’ve known for millennia that when our mental health suffers, the rest of our health follows suit. Pitt neuroscientists are mapping the wiring within us that’s behind the mind-body connection—a prospect with the power to change how doctors diagnose, treat, and track illness throughout the body. * Pitt Med Fall 2016

In the ’60s, Emmanuel Farber’s studies in chemical carcinogenesis landed him on the committee that would pen perhaps the most important public health document of the century. The fiery Pitt pathology chair called “Bull!” on Big Tobacco (and a lot more). * Pitt Med, Spring 2016

A multilayered soundscape on the emerging neurobiology of itch, the least understood of our somatic senses. This Pitt Medcast was inspired by “Scratching the Surface,” a story from the Summer 2013 issue of Pitt Med magazine. Special thanks to Will Simmons for the music.

Pitt scientists are sorting out sex-based disparities in the nervous, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and immune systems and elsewhere that have important implications for health. Men and women seem to be more different than we’d imagined—even at the cellular level. * Pitt Med, Fall 2010

Mark Ravitch introduced America to the surgical stapler, he put Pitt surgeons through trying times at morbidity and mortality conferences, and he left an eternal mark on the art of operating. * Pitt Med, Spring 2013

Why do they jump from tire swings into shallow water? Why do they drive recklessly? Why do they do that to their hair? In short, why do teens do “teenage” things? Oh, if only they were fully myelinated. * Pitt Med, Fall 2007

The modern death ritual centers on the pounding of chests and other heroic measures. But that’s not what we say we want. Where do doctors fall short of offering “the good death?” * Pitt Med, Summer 2007

It’s time to get over the idea that patients suffering from pancreatitis also are alcoholics, say Pitt doctors. They are opening up new ways of thinking about the organ and its diseases—notably, pancreatic cancer. * Pitt Med, Summer 2008